Confessions of a PYP Teacher

C161: Teacher Burnout

22 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textWelcome back to Confessions of a PYP Teacher and the tenth episode in our well-being series.Fatigue is the silent pandemic of modern lif...

C160: Stress Overload

11 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textWelcome back to Confessions of a PYP Teacher and the ninth episode in our well-being series.  So far, we’ve looked at fear, worry, pa...

C159: Why is Anxiety so Important?

15 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textWelcome back to Confessions of a PYP Teacher and the eighth episode in our well-being series.  We have already unpacked all the ways th...

C158: Why am I so Anxious?

07 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textWelcome back to Confessions of a PYP Teacher and the seventh episode in our well-being series.  This week, we are going to explore the ...

C157: Panic and its Impact on Learning

29 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textWelcome back to Confessions of a PYP Teacher and the sixth episode in our well-being series.  It’s been interesting going through thi...

C156: Let's Not Have a Panic Attack

20 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textWelcome back to our podcast and the fifth episode in our well-being series.  In this episode, we are going to lean into panic and how i...

C155: Facing our Fears (Part 2)

11 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textWelcome back to our podcast and the fourth episode in our well-being series.In the last episode, we examined the power of fear in our li...

C154: Facing our Fears

03 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textWelcome back to our podcast and the third episode in our well-being series.  This is the most vulnerable I have been in some time. Fea...

C153: Don’t be a Worrywart

27 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textWelcome back, my friends, to Confession 153. This episode is framed by this quote by Mo Gawdat, "Worrying is praying for what you...

C152: The Journey Towards Well-Being

01 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textWelcome back, my friends, to Confession 152.Today’s episode marks the beginning of a brand-new series on something that’s been quiet...

C151: Specialist and Supporting Teachers (Challenge)

11 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textHello my PYP family, this is Lu Gerlach from thinkchat.  Welcome back to Confessions of a PYP Teacher as we explore confession number 1...

C150: Specialist and Supporting Teachers: Conceptual Understanding

17 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textHi friends, it’s Lu Gerlach from thinkchat, and today is a BIG one.Episode 150. One hundred and fifty episodes.  It's the longes...

C149: Specialist and Supporting Teachers: Understanding the Role of Conceptual Understanding

09 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textHey friends. Welcome back.It’s been a minute or two since we last connected, but here we are—episode twelve of our specialist and su...

C148: Specialist and Supporting Teachers: International Mindedness 2.0

06 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textWelcome to the eleventh episode of our specialist and supporting teachers series.  Today, we are focusing on how we can further explore...

C147: Specialist and Supporting Teachers: Seeking Ways to Show International Mindedness

28 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textWelcome to the tenth episode of our specialist and supporting teachers series.  Today, we are focusing on bringing about more internati...

C146: Specialist and Supporting Teachers: Learner Profile 2.0

15 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textWelcome to the ninth episode of our specialist and supporting teachers series.  I’m super excited to talk more about the learner prof...

C145: Specialist and Supporting Teachers: Leaning into the Learner Profile

04 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textWelcome to the eighth episode of our specialist and supporting teachers series.  We are going to spend our time unpacking the learner p...

C144: Specialist and Support Teachers (Challenge): Bring about Agency and Inquiry in our Thinking

06 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textWelcome to our seventh episode in our series for specialist and supporting teachers.  This has been a passion project that has been fre...

C143: Specialist and Supporting Teachers: Inquiry 2.0

28 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textWelcome back to our specialist and supporting teachers series!  This is our sixthepisode leaning into inquiry for our supporting teache...

C142: Specialist and Supporting Teachers: Inspiring Inquiry

08 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textWelcome back to our specialist and supporting teachers series!  This is our fifth episode zooming into inquiry for you fabulous teacher...

C141: Specialist and Supporting Teachers: Agency 2.0

11 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textWelcome to the fourth episode of our specialist and supporting teachers series.  We are continuing our journey with agency through the ...

C140: Specialist and Supporting Teachers: Bringing about Agency

28 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textWelcome to the third episode in our specialist and supporting teachers series. If you haven’t listened to the series so far, consider ...

C139: Specialist and Supporting Teachers: Honoring the Unique Role

17 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textWelcome to the second episode of my new series to support specialist and supporting teachers.  I just want to let you know that in this...

C138: Specialist and Supporting Teachers: Myths about our Roles

09 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textWelcome to our new series about specialist and supporting teachers.  I have been thinking a lot about this series over the past couple ...

C137 (Book Club): Growing Brain Power, Yes Please! (pg 122-151)

16 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textThis is the final week of our exploration of Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain.  We will explore how to build more intellect...

C136 (Book Club): Reshaping the Academic Mindset (pg 108-120)

16 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textI can’t believe that we are almost done with Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain by Zaretta Hammond.  This book has reaffirm...

C135 (Book Club): Creating an Alliance with our Learners (pg 88 -107)

23 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textWelcome back my friends to another episode of Confessions of a PYP Teacher.  This episode speaks directly to my heart and I hope it wil...

C134 (Book Club): Supporting Culturally Responsive Relationships with our Learners (pg 72-87)

17 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textSomething I’ve been thinking about has been learner relationships and why they are not the primary focus in many elementary classrooms...

C133 (Book Club): Continuing to Become Aware of our Actions (pg 59-69)

08 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textIn the past episode, we discussed our own role as a culturally responsive teacher and how it shapes our frame of reference when teaching...

C132 (Book Club): Becoming a Culturally Responsive Educator (pg 52-60)

19 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textWelcome to another deep dive into the fabulous book, Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain by Zaretta Hammond.  This week will b...

C131 (Book Club): How Culture Effects the Brain (pg 36-51)

08 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textWelcome back to another episode of Confessions of a PYP Teacher and our exploration of Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brian by Z...

C130 (Book Club): Understanding the Power of Cultural Roots (pg 21-35)

28 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textWelcome back to another episode of Confessions of a PYP Teacher.  We are continuing our exploration of Culturally Responsive Teaching a...

C129 (Book Club): From Pedagogy of Poverty to Ready for Rigor (pgs 14- 20)

07 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textWelcome back to our book study of Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain (CRT) by Zaretta Hammond.  As I reviewed my notes for th...

C128 (Book Club): Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain (pg 1-13)

25 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textWelcome my friends to a new book study.  I have wrestled with what to talk about next within my podcast series and I kept circling back...

C127 (Application): Making our Classrooms reflect the PYP journey

19 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textHello, dear educators, and welcome to the final episode of our application series. I'm Lu Gerlach, your host and fellow advocate fo...

C126 (Application): Lessons from The Expert Effect

12 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textHidee Ho Neighbor, my name is Lu Gerlach and I’m from thinkchat.  Welcome to confession #126!  In this episode, we'll be explor...

C125 (Application): Local and Global Inquiry in our Context

05 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textWelcome back my Lu Crew.  I’m Lu Gerlach from thinkchat, just in case you forgot my name.  This is confession #125!  We are going t...

C124 (Application): Using Personal Inquiry in our Practice

29 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textGood day to my fabulous thinkchat family.  It’s me again, Lu Gerlach, your host, and welcome to confession #124, where we will explor...

C123 (Application): Our Learning Journey with ChatGPT

22 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textGood afternoon to my favorite people, I’ll just call you my Lu Crew.  If you haven’t guessed, I’m your host, Lu Gerlach from thin...

C122: How do learners visually represent their unit of inquiry journey?

14 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textHey there, wonderful people! It's your host, Lu Gerlach from thinkchat, and I am beyond excited for today's episode. We'r...

C121: How do we guide learning through differentiation?

16 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textIn this episode, we are going to explore two questions posed by my Twitter friend, Donna Mathew.  To what extent can we differentiate a...

C120: How are we celebrating student voice through agency?

31 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textWelcome back to another episode of Confessions of a PYP teacher.  I have taken a bit of a hiatus from this podcast due to personal heal...

C119: What key and related concepts live here?

14 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textIn this episode, I was provoked by ideas and questions by Yuni Santosa and Shailja Datt.  Yuni asked,  ”Hmmm... is this the criteria...

C118: How are our walls interactive and transdisciplinary?

01 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textGreetings friends!  Welcome to another week of our PYP Classroom Success Criteria podcast series!  We are going to have a lot of fun e...

C117: How do we show the expectations of a school within the classroom?

20 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textThis episode came from a question that was posed by Nirali Parikh, a transitional kindergarten teacher, originally from India that works...

C116: How do we tickle our learner’s brains through our teaching and classroom walls?

14 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textWelcome to our new series on a PYP classroom success criteria.  I am so excited for this series, because I feel like it’s been so tim...

C115: Creating a PYP Classroom Success Criteria

03 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textIn the past six months, I have visited a lot of schools through official IB workshops, independent workshops, and curriculum development...

C114 (Book Club): Teach others as experts (pg 131-148)

23 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textIn this episode, we conclude our journey with The Expert Effect by exploring selective perfectionism, major takeaways from the book club...

C113 (Book Club): Students become the experts (pgs 91-130)

20 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textIn this episode, we unpack the big ideas from this section of the book with authors Grayson McKinney and Zach Rondot of the Expert Effec...

C112 (Book Club): Talking with Experts (pgs 59-90)

04 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textWelcome to the third episode in our series about the Expert Effect.  I apologize for such a delay, but sometimes our personal life take...

C111 (Book Club): Learning from Experts Near & Far (Pgs 29-58)

08 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textWelcome to the second episode exploring the book, The Expert Effect by Grayson McKinney and Zach Rondot.  It has been an absolute pleas...

C110 (Book Club): Laying the foundation for the Expert Effect

07 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textWelcome to the #CITLreads Book Club for The Expert Effect by Grayson McKinney and Zach Rondot.  I am so excited to explore this book th...

C109: Local and Global Inquiry in the Early Years

25 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textAs I finish this series on local and global inquiry, I couldn’t forget my early years friends.  Oftentimes, there are many strategies...

C108: Local and Global Inquiry for Specialist and Supporting Teachers

21 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textIn this episode, we will look at local and global inquiry through the lens of the specialist and supporting teachers.  I see you my fri...

C107: The Commonality of the Human Experience

24 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textAs I mentioned in my last episode, I was able to interact with many of my eduheroes last week, including Stephanie Harvey.  What a fire...

C106: The Story Behind Local and Global Inquiry

17 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textLet's take a moment to discuss ways to shape the story of local and global inquiry.  What does this mean?  Take a look at these q...

C105: Going Local to Global (Part 2)

11 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textIn the last episode, we talked about going from a local issue to more globally minded.  I used the PZ visible thinking routine, Project...

C104: From Local to Global (Part 1)

02 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textWahoo!  The moment has finally come.  We get to merge the local inquiry with a global context.  I’m physically and metaphorically r...

C103: Finding Experts in our Local Community

25 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textNow that we have stretched our learning to think a bit deeper about our standards, let’s think about how we are going to leverage the ...

C102: Going from a Content Standard to a Local Issue

18 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textIn the last episode, we ended with the idea of connecting our local issue to our curriculum and standards.  So, I’d like to dedicate ...

C101: The Properties of a Local Inquiry

11 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textWelcome to our new series on local and global inquiry.  After the book club on “Getting Personal with Inquiry Learning” by Kath Mur...

C100 (Book Club): My Personal Inquiry Journey

05 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textWe all have something that we are wanting to invest in ourselves that we have put off, because we are too busy, too tired, or overworked...

C99 (Book Club): Reflecting on the Process & Taking Action

03 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textAfter this book study, I decided to try something different.  Instead of picking random goals for my action plan, I pulled quotes from ...

C98 (Book Club): Managing Personal Inquiries (Section 4)

28 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textWelcome to our final session of our club for Getting Personal with Inquiry Learning by Kath Murdoch.  This session leads out with a ban...

C97 (Book Club): Documenting, Reflecting, Assessing, Sharing & Action (3.6-3.7)

23 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textWelcome to Week 7 of our Getting Personal with Inquiry Learning book club.  This fabulous book by Kath Murdoch has stretched our capabi...

C96 (Book Club): Supporting, Conferring, and Sustaining the Process (3.4-3.5)

18 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textWelcome back for another session of our book club on Getting Personal with Inquiry Learning by Kath Murdoch. We are focusing on sections...

C95 (Book Club): Lighting the Spark of Personal Inquiry to Proposing, Pitching, and Planning (3.1-3.3)

14 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textThis is the section we have been waiting for!  It’s at the heart of how to get started with a personal inquiry, how and what to docum...

C94 (Book Club): Designing and Assessing our Inquiry Framework (2.6-2.8)

02 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textThis week, we are going to look at various scaffolds that will support and assess our use of inquiry within our practice.  For newer te...

C93 (Book Club): Creating a Culture for Personal Inquiry (2.1-2.5)

31 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textIn this episode, we will read sections 2.1-2.5 of Kath Murdoch's book, Getting Personal with Inquiry Learning.  In this section, w...

C92 (Book Club): Why not PI, Sharing pictures of Practice, and Setting your Own Goal (1.4-1.6)

09 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textJust a reminder my friends, this new series will take an intense dive into the book, “Getting Personal with Inquiry Learning” by Kat...

C91 (Book Club): What and Why of Personal Inquiry (1.1-1.3)

04 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textI am excited to co-lead with Aga Chojnacka-Al Atat and Kirti Kale a book club for Kath Murdoch’s latest title, Getting Personal with I...

C90 (Application): Playing with the ATL

22 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textAs we look at playing with the ATLs, I’m reminded of my friend Vidhya.  She is a passionate PYP educator from India.  If you are on ...

C89 (Application): Designing an Environment for Play

15 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textLet’s continue on with this theme about learning space design and how it impacts play.  From an organizational standpoint, what makes...

C88 (Application): Shaping Learning through the Environment

08 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textWelcome to another application series, where we are going to take ideas we have explored before and apply them into a new context.  I a...

C87: Using Design Thinking with our Learners

01 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textLearning transfer is our greatest gift.  It helps us to better understand ideas that we are toying with during our learning.  What bet...

C86 (Challenge): Evolving our Practice with POWR

24 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textI’m so excited to record this episode on the 2nd birthday of this podcast!  What a journey.  I never thought I would ever record a p...

C85 (Overview): How Do We Evolve Our Thinking?

23 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textThe meaning of evolve is to develop gradually.  This captures the heart of our PYP journey.  We are developing gradually into educator...

C84 (Challenge):- Creating a Prototype with the CME Model from Pop-Up Studio

17 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textAs I was considering this challenge, I reflected on the CME model from Pop-Up Studio: Responsive Teaching for Today’s Learners by Mist...

C83 (Overview): How Do We Create a Prototype?

16 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textA prototype is a model of something that we want to test or try out.  In the PYP, our prototype is our unit of inquiry planner.  We cr...

C82 (Challenge): Learning to Ideate with the 4A's from Pop-Up Studio

09 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textIn our last episode, we defined what it means to ideate and stretched our thinking with the Question Formulation Technique (QFT).  This...

C81 (Intro): What Does it Mean to Ideate?

08 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textIn the design thinking process, we recognize that the issue we have defined has not been previously dealt with correctly.  We may have ...

C80 (Intro & Challenge): Define Your Problem with the Four Agreements

19 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textAlbert Einstein once said, “If I had an hour to solve a problem I’d spend 55 minutes thinking about the problem and five minutes thi...

C79 (Challenge): Let's Empathize with the Four Agreements

12 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textWelcome to the design thinking challenge!I am excited to explore the design thinking challenge through different lenses that you may hav...

C78 (Intro): What Does it Mean to Empathize?

11 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textEmpathy 101This episode will focus on building empathy.  If you feel like you have a solid understanding of what this looks and feels l...

C77: The Design Thinking Process

06 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textAs I think of the power of the conceptual lesson cycle, I naturally connect to the Design Thinking Process, which looks at conceptual id...

C76: Play versus Playfulness

30 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textEver since the last episode, I have struggled with a gnawing feeling that I was not quite right in my ideas.  As I have unraveled the c...

C75: Engaging Play through a Conceptual Lesson Cycle

18 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textPlay in elementary school is a debated idea.  Does it only happen in early years?  What do we define as play?  How does it look and i...

C74: Play in the Early Years

07 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textPlay is central to early years.  We know this.  If you are an early years teacher, this is what you do all day long.  This episode fo...

C73: The importance of Play

15 Jan 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textSince the PYP enhancements in 2018, there has been a lot of talk of play.  It has always existed in early years, because that is how a ...

C72: The Relationship between the Learning Environment and Play

11 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textAs I think of the relationship between the learning environment and play, it reminds of the chicken and the egg argument.  Which one ca...

C71: Designing Other School Spaces

05 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textThis week, I’m excited to report to you from New London, CT.  It’s a beautiful seaside town with a lot of history in its six square...

C70: Designing for Learners with Disabilities

12 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textThe practices we have shared in the past two episodes apply to all learners.  Some will be overstimulated, while others will be underwh...

C69: Designing for the Gifted Learner

06 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textNow that we’ve designed the learning environment for the language learner, let’s talk about the gifted learner.  I don’t like thi...

C68: Designing for the Language Learner

30 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textHow does our learning space design reflect the needs of your language learners?  In this episode, we will explore how the learning envi...

C67: The Importance of Learning Space Design

02 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textWelcome to our new series on the importance of the learning environment and play to support inquiry.  This has been a labor of love ove...

C66: What's in a Name?

24 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textAs we focus on learning environment design and building learning relationships, we must first consider a simple practice that bonds a co...

C65: Using Split-Screen Teaching to Spark Learning Goals

09 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textOnce you have a solid understanding and use of split-screen teaching, you will be prepared to turn the ownership to your learners.  Our...

C64: Split-Screen Teaching with ATLs and Learner Profile

06 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textYou’ve chosen your ATLs and now comes the part of breaking them down into bite-size pieces, so your learners can apply them on a daily...

C63: Choosing Sub-Skills for our Units of Inquiry

04 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textNow we have gone over in-depth how to use the Approaches to Learning (ATLs), how will we select them for our units of inquiry.  This do...

C62: Self-Management Skills for Homeroom (1-6); Specialist & Supporting

29 Aug 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Send us a textAs a child advances in age, it’s assumed that they know how to manage themselves, because they are quiet, sit still, and complete assi...